UMA ANAND
Senior Lecturer in Bharathanatyam, MUSIC DEPT., ANNAMALAI UNIVERSITY, ANNAMALAI NAGAR, TAMILNADU

SORKATTU
by Uma Anand

Everything on earth is governed and controlled by rhythm. Man walks in a particular speed and runs in another The planets move in a particular speed The earth rotates round the sun and the moon around the earth creating day and night. To make one rotation the earth takes one day and to make one revolution around the sun, the earth takes one year. They move without any flaw with such wonderful precision. It is amazing to watch their uniform tempo or kalapramanam. The pulse rate of humans and their heartbeat follow their own speed. If there is any change in the speed, then we say that the person is unwell. Nature binds everything with a sense of rhythm called layam. Layam forms an indispensable aspect of dance. The sense of rhythm is in-born it cannot be created but of course it can be developed.

Sorkattu or sollukattu is an important aspect of layam. These are rhythmic syllables uttered while the Nritta or the pure dance sequences are performed. Sol means words and kattu means bound together. The earliest inscription on sorkattu is the one found at Arachalur. It belongs to A.D. 200 -250. It has a series of rhythmic syllables. The sorkattus fit into the kandachapu variety of talas. This inscription goes on to prove the antiquity of dance.

The syllable ‘ta’ is the fulcrum of sorkattu hence we say tattakaram. There are two ways of uttering the sorkattu.

1. The tattakaram which is used while learning the adavus. Example: theiyum thatha theiyum tham.
Thithithei, thei thithithei, theitheithithithei,
Theitheitheithithithei.

2. When the same adavus are combined to form a jati, the mridanga sorkattu are used. Example: kitatakatarikitathom, takitatakatarikitathom, takatikukitatakatarikitathom.

A combination of adavus or adavu korvais set to a sorkattu pattern is called a jati. There were infinite variety of talas during the time of Ottakoothar. His book ‘ Thakayakaparani’ has excerpts about jati .

The tradition of rendering jati is very ancient.. Thirugnanasambandhar belongs to the 7th century A.D. A saiva saint who at the age of three had vision of Lord Siva and his consort Parvati. Consuming the holy milk given by mother Goddess he started singing hymns on lord Siva. He is probably the first to include sorkattu in his songs and sahithyam in the santham format [ rhyming words ].

Pattinathar and Namazhwar are the other poets who follow Sambandhar. We get many traditional examples of sorkattu from the Thirupugazh songs composed by Arunagirinather. In his compositions rhyming sorkattu are interspersed in the sahithyams. It will not be an exaggeration if we say, that Arunagirinather was the forerunner of jati tradition.

An example from his compositions is as follows ---

“ --------thithitheya vothapparipura
Nirtha patham vaithu payiravi
Thikotka nadikka kazhikodu kazhuthada
Thikku pari attapayiravar
Thokku thoku thokku thoku thoku
Chitrappavurikku thrikadaka ena votha
Kottuparai kotta kalamisai
Kukku kuku kukku kuku kuku
Kuthiputhai pukku pidiyena muthukookai -----“

In this way Arunagirinather has used sorkattus in his compositions. It is evident that in his time, geetha prabhandhams were popular. Arunagirinather was well versed in geetham, vadyam and prabhandham. Arunagirinather lived about 800 years after Sambandar, but he accepted Sambhandar as his guru. And he prayed to Lord Muruga to enable him to compose songs like his guru. Being a great devotee of the Lord, he could hear the sound of the anklets of the lord and would compose the sorkattus in his songs accordingly ----

“thanthana thananthana thanavena
Senchiru sathangai konjida mani thandaikal kalin kalin kalinena thiruvana --- “

He has composed innumerable songs in not only the 108 talas but also in santha talas.

Following Arunagirinather, we have Muthuthandavar [1560 -- 1640] He has used a lot of sorkattus in his songs. In his charukesi raga keerthanai “adiya vedikkai pareer”, the charanam has only two lines of sahithyam and the rest of the lines have sorkattu.

“nanmaiser thumburu naradhar isai paada naadha paramanandha thazhunthiya varumtheda tham mei maranthiru mathavar koothada thaiyal uma magizh kondiru vizhi nada thakusekina sekinangida thathingathom thirikida thathingathom thathingathom
Thathingathom kidatha thathimi thithimi thei thei
Thathingathom kidatha thathimi thithimi thei thei
Tham thakunthariku thiriku semthari tham thakunthariku thirikuku tharikusemthari
Thantha thintha thanan thanan thimi thantha thintha thanan thanan thimi
Thantha thinthimi thakida thikida thaka thantha thinthimi thakida thikida thaka
Thathadingu thadingu dingkuku thakana jenutha thathathinginathom thathinginathom thathinginathomena aadiya

His compositions are more suited for dance. The nattuvanars of the 18th century were brilliant composers of jatis. Over the years the art of reciting jatis or sorkattus have developed to a great extent. The teachers of the different styles recite with modifications of tone and sorkattus peculiar to their styles. The jatis vary from simple beautiful ones in one or two avarthanams to complicated ones where the nattuvanars use different permutations and combinations. Given below is a simple beautiful jati in two avarthanams.

Theenutha thathimi thahathajum thakajum thajam gathim thakita thaka |
Theenutha thathimi thahathajum thakajum thajum gathim thakita thaka ||
Theenuthimitha kita thimitha thakita thaka kitathaka thakajonu
Thathitha kitathakatharikitathom,
thathitha kitathakatharikitathom,
thathitha kitathakatharikitathom ||

In the above jati we see a combination of sorkattu in the first avarthanam [avarthanam – one cycle of thalam]. The second avarthanam consists of the kuraippu or lessening of words of the first avarthanam and the jati ends with a theermanam in sama yati. This is how a jati should be composed. It should contain the same combination of words. That is the entire jati should be made up of the same sorkattu .pattern.

Jati compositions have developed to a great extent. Very lengthy jatis with karvais [gap] are in vogue. The dancers strike sculpturesque poses as fill up of the karvais. The prastharams or improvisations are amazing and sometimes beyond imagination.